Should I attempt a long bike ride even though I'm sick?

October 23, 2009 1:45 PM

I had plans to ride my bike from Chicago to Milwaukee tomorrow with my husband and two friends (about 100 miles). Now I've come down with a pretty bad cold. Should I cancel or try to power through? Have you ever done a lot of physical activity while recovering from a cold, and how did you fare?

Pros:
I really, really, really want to go on this ride. We've been planning on it as a capstone to our season all year. I think it will be fun, and it would be a nice accomplishment (my first century). I rode a metric century a couple weeks ago and other than being sick, feel fairly well prepared. We are planning to take it easy anyway as not everyone has really trained as much as would be ideal for such a long ride. Although we'd like to make it before sundown, we can take as much time as we need to complete the ride. We've already made the hotel reservations to stay in Milwaukee overnight and bought the Amtrak tickets to get back home the next day.

Cons:
I'm sick. I have a bad cold and feel, frankly, like crap today. I'm congested, going through boxes of tissues, and tired. The ride is just the four of us - bailing mid-way will be difficult, if not impossible. (There are no Amtrak stops mid-way; the only chance to bail is the final Metra stop which I think is in Kenosha.) There's a 30% chance of rain in the morning and it will be fairly cold (high in the upper 40s).

I think I know the smart thing is to stay home and wish the others well, but the idea of it is so disappointing that I would like to know if anyone else has done something like this and survived - and even enjoyed him/herself. Also, any tips for feeling better quickly, riding under such circumstances, etc., would be appreciated. I'm already taking Cold-Eeze and doing the usual rest, chicken soup, and fluids bit.

posted by misskaz to health & fitness (20 comments total)

Well, if you really want to consider it, the rule of thumb for exercise during illness is: if most of your symptoms are above your neck (i.e., just stuffy nose and sneezing) you'll probably be okay with exercise if you take it a little easy, but if most of your symptoms are below your neck (i.e., chest congestion, coughing, aches, queasiness), you definitely should sit things out.

But even so -- the biggest thing my trainer said to me was "listen to your body". You could hang in there and see how you feel tomorrow morning, but if you feel this crappy tomorrow, I think it would be a bad idea (no matter how much you were looking forward to this, you were looking forward to a FUN time, right? And how much fun would you really have if you were trying to ride your bike feeling like THIS?)

Milwaukee's not going anywhere. Nor are bicycles. If you have to cancel tomorrow you can reschedule for another day.

...I empathize, though -- I just had to cancel some of my own weekend plans because of a cold too.
posted by EmpressCallipygos at 1:52 PM on October 23

I have no advice on the decision itself, but I will say that if you do decide to tough it out, be sure to bring much more water than usual. When I run with a cold (which I can do just fine), I end up drinking a ton more than I normally do because I am breathing through my mouth so much more and that really sort of dries me out.
posted by Ignatius J. Reilly at 2:01 PM on October 23

Ride your bike for an hour tonight and see how you feel.
posted by munchingzombie at 2:01 PM on October 23 [2 favorites]

I think if it was either going to rain and be cold OR you were going to be sick, then maybe powering through it wouldn't be so bad. But under the circumstances, I can't think of anything worse than being sick and being outside in cold, windy, rainy Chicago, AND having to propel yourself along. That doesn't sound like fun at all.

And it will probably make your illness worse than it is/worse than it was going to get. This is a bad time to be playing games with your immune system since it's flu season and especially since H1N1 is going around (not to be all fear-mongering or anything but it is going around Chicago)

By all means make use of the reservations since you already paid but I would plan on doing something else.
posted by amethysts at 2:02 PM on October 23

Well, speaking as someone who completed a duathlon a few weeks ago in the midst of a bad cold, I'd say go for it, so long as you're going to be taking it at an easy pace. Ironically, exercise tends to make me feel better when I'm sick—the motion acts as a powerful decongestant, the fresh cold air clears my head, and the scenery distracts me from how much I feel like crap.

The only downside, as far as I can tell, is that my colds hang on a few days longer than if I hadn't done the vigorous exercise, so you'd have to decide if that's worth it or not.

As for exercising while sick, what helps me most is keeping the throat lozenges handy, as well as wearing a breathable scarf or neck warmer that I can pull up over my lower face, since the cold air tends to make my throat feel raw and uncomfortable. And drinking twice the amount of water that I usually would—like Ignatius said, you'll feel much more dried out.
posted by anderjen at 2:02 PM on October 23

Agree with Zombie (esp if you have a trainer you can use). I've frequently found exercise will kind of dry up cold symptoms but you really need to see if that's going to work for you.
posted by bitdamaged at 2:04 PM on October 23

That sounds miserable to me, especially given the weather and that you don't usually ride so far. If you go ahead be prepared to feel extra crappy for a few days after, sometimes I find my body can put off dealing with being sick for a day or two, but it's worse afterwards.

Can you get the train down while the others cycle so you can spend the night and the train ride the next day hanging out?
posted by crabintheocean at 2:14 PM on October 23

No question...fucking go for it. After you finish you will have proven something to yourself that you really already knew.
posted by vito90 at 2:27 PM on October 23

Can you do this safely? That's what I want to know. As it is, sounds like you'll need all your faculties.
posted by hermitosis at 2:45 PM on October 23

If it's that important to you, go for it. You'll be miserable otherwise, more so than the cold is making you now.

On the physical side, you won't feel a lot better on the ride. You can hope your conditioning will kick in and get you over the high side. I remember riding sick. My body felt kind of flushed, and while I could get through the ride, there was a price to pay later, like having the cold last longer than it otherwise would.
posted by diode at 3:21 PM on October 23

There are stops on Amtrak between Chicago and Milwaukee. Glenview IL and Sturtevant, WI. Plus the metra runs to Kenosha.
posted by sulaine at 3:30 PM on October 23

I used to use a bike as my only transport through all kinds of weather and I regularly got horrible bronchitis that would last a month from riding while sick.
posted by Iron Rat at 3:40 PM on October 23

I've climbed a moderately-sized mountain in the pouring rain with a horrible sore throat and not only finished, but felt completely better by evening. But it was about 70 degrees, not 40, I wasn't horribly congested, only moderately so, and you're going to need your lungs to be working in tip-top efficiency more than a hiker does; also, I had an easy bail out route (i.e. turn around and walk downhill), so the consequences of being wrong about whether I could make it or not were virtually nil.

You're in good condition, and you'll be part of a group, so I say try it, but make a point of stopping at the last bail-out point and thoroughly reevaluating. If you've been feeling gradually worse up to that point in the ride, that's not likely to change, and you should bite the bullet and bail; otherwise, press on. Y'all might want to decide now whether the others will come with you if you have to turn around; it may prevent some serious uncomfortableness later on.
posted by Commander Rachek at 5:11 PM on October 23

My recommendation is to rest up today, eat well, take a hot bath, get a solid night's sleep, and re-evaluate in the morning. Don't be afraid to bag out at the last minute. It doesn't make you a bad person. If you feel perky and the weather is looking optimal, I say do it.
posted by computech_apolloniajames at 5:37 PM on October 23

If you do not have a fever and can regularly ride 35 miles with no recovery problems go for it. I wish you well. Post back and let us know how you felt after you finished.
posted by rmhsinc at 7:08 PM on October 23

Thanks everyone, you've all given me things to think about.

I don't have a fever, and got my flu shot a few weeks ago (which, granted, was not the H1N1 shot.) Also, I'm on the last few days of antibiotics for a tooth/gum infection, so the chances of me weakening myself to the point of a secondary bacterial infection are slim, I hope. (The dentist had given me the thumbs up for the ride earlier this week.)

Per your suggestions, I did take a short ride this evening and felt pretty good, and the weather report looks better (only very slight chance of rain in the morning, highs in the low 50s). I packed and got everything ready just in case.

But now the Day-Quil has worn off and I can't breathe again, and it doesn't look like our route will take us near any of the Amtrak stations. I just can't decide. I can literally be in mid-sentence telling my husband I'm going when I change my mind again.

I'm going to bed now, and looks like it will be a game-time decision first thing in the morning. I'll let y'all know what I decide.
posted by misskaz at 7:39 PM on October 23

Update: Well, the decision was quite easy this morning after all. I am clearly down for the count. I had a fever when I woke up after a night of chills (literally shivering despite flannel PJs and three blankets). The other three went on without me and I'm doing my best to recover at home. Thanks everyone; looks like I'll have to wait until next year.
posted by misskaz at 8:36 AM on October 24

Well shoot. I was sure you passed Kenosha by now. Don't worry, there'll be plenty of other chances.

In fact, a friend and I keep talking about doing a below-freezing century in January, where we plant a route go from one Dunkin Donuts to another, for hot chocolate stops every 15 miles or so. Lemme know if you're interested.
posted by hydrophonic at 11:05 AM on October 24

Damn. Sorry. Hope you're on the mend very soon.
posted by anderjen at 3:18 PM on October 24

Oh, crap. And after you had that trip out of town interrupt your riding immediately after your metric century. I hope you feel better soon!

But I don't think you even have to wait for a subarctic Dunkin Donuts century for January (which sounds pretty neat, if you substitute Tim Hortons for DD, of course :P). If you're feeling better within a few days and can get a couple more base rides in soon, and if things don't get too cold and if the snow holds off, a November century is still possible. You may want to keep it urban or suburban, which would be slower than the open road because of the stops and starts of traffic, or you could at least drag out your husband for a rural century, if you can't get all 4 people together again.

Then go out in January again. If the iCycle challenge is running, you'll smoosh us all.
posted by maudlin at 4:40 PM on October 24